MCT: Saturday, February 23, 2019

• Wet Ahead
• Film Screening
• Mental Agenda
• Rocks
• Joe in Court
• Cooking Classes
• BOS Agenda
• Senior Housing
• Ricardo Roundup
• Planning Cancelled
• Yesterday's Catch
• Great Expectations
• Media Illusion
• Old Mendo
• PA Agenda
• Vermiculture Workshop
• BART Shit
• Broadband Plan
• Roadkill Bill
• Coup Warnings
• Body Snatcher
• Public Education
• Gates Tax
• Marco Radio

MORE WET WEATHER AHEAD

Light rain will spread across the region today, and then become moderate to heavy Sunday through Tuesday. Additional rain producing storm systems will impact the region through late next week. (National Weather Service)

‘WINTER IN THE BLOOD’ FILM TO BE SCREENED AT GRACE HUDSON MUSEUM IN UKIAH

by Rachel Ebel

The Pop-Up Culture Club of Ukiah will be hosting a film screening at the Grace Hudson Museum on Saturday, Feb 23.

The film to be featured, “Winter in the Blood,” was directed by Andrew Smith and his twin brother, Alex Smith. It made its debut in 2013 at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film has never been released in theaters but has been shown at various film festivals, museums and classrooms throughout the world.

The story for the film was adapted from the novel “Winter in the Blood” that was written by the Native American author James Welch. Based in Montana, the film is an “inverted western” where the cowboys are also the Indians. The story begins with the hero trying to retrieve his gun that was stolen by his wife who abandoned him.

“We don’t know if he is trying to get wife or gun back and in pursuing, it begins an odyssey of personal discovery and ghosts and memories,” shares Andrew Smith.

The novel, “Winter in the Blood,” was originally published in 1974. Welch was known as a distinguished voice in American storytelling, which appealed to the brothers. “We felt the story would be really relevant to another generation of readers and viewers. We had felt a personal connection to the author, who was a mentor figure to us. After he had passed away, we just decided it was time for the film to get made. We got a lot of access to resources and people who would be the voice,” shares Andrew Smith.

The brothers had been making films together since they were kids. They grew up in a rural part of Montana and because there was little to do, they had picked up working on creative projects together. After college, they discovered they both still had carried out their creative interests. They had also an affinity for storytelling about cultural classes and the American West and decided to collaborate.

The film took about five years to complete. It was funded greatly through Kickstarter, which had generated a large following for the project. They had a large casting call in Montana where up to 400 people showed up, travelling from as far as New Mexico and Canada. Many of the actors in the film are Native American, and some who were local from reservations in Montana had never acted before.

Andrew Smith notes that a key theme in the film is the story of survival. “It’s about a very repressed and decimated culture and the story of hanging on to the meaningfulness of knowing that culture and survival despite everything, about someone who comes to recognize who he is and to have pride. The film is a lot about him opening up and breaking away from his wounds and adapting to dominant cowboy western violence,” explains Andrew Smith.

Toni Wheeler from the Pop-Up Culture Club of Ukiah wanted to see the film come to Ukiah because she likes the film and because she wants to share it with the community in general.

“It’s a story of one character’s personal journey of dealing with trauma and challenges from the indigenous point of view. Positions of modern life and social issues are cross-referenced. The story is set in Montana but it’s more universal, important of a story that way,” says Wheeler.

At the screening, Andrew Smith will be present and available to answer any questions about the film and the filmmaking process. He is currently teaching film/cinema and digital media at UC Davis.

For more information about the film and other works of Andrew and Alex Smith, visit www.ranchwaterfilms.com or visit the “Winter in the Blood” Facebook page. The screening will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Grace Hudson Museum. The film is not rated but not suggested for viewers younger than 14 years old. More information about the event can be found by visiting the Pop-Up Culture Club of Ukiah Facebook page.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

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Trailer:

MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT ACT Citizen's Oversight Committee Agenda, February 27, 2019

mendocinocounty.org/community/mental-health-oversight-committee/agendas-and-minutes

JOE MUNSON BREAST FEEDING IN COURT, PART X

As Told To Jonah Raskin

My wife, Atsuko, and I were in the Mendocino County Courthouse charged with cultivation. Our son, Milo, was two-years-old and nursing. Atsuko breast-fed him right behind the DA’s desk and that unnerved her. She kept turning around and going nuts. Milo was enjoying himself and so was I.

Keith Faulder was my lawyer. Ron Brown was the judge. (Alas, cancer got Ron.) He was a sane judge, but the hearing for cultivation was a circus and I played it like a circus. At the hearing, Judge Brown had to listen to the prosecution and the defense and decide if there’s enough reason to go to trial. Keith and I did a pro-active defense. I invited medical patients with cancer, Glaucoma and MS to come to court and testify that I had in fact given them for free all the weed they needed, with the understanding that they would show up in court and testify on my behalf, if need be.

From the start, I knew that DA Kathryn Houston couldn’t withstand that kind of testimony from sick people, some of them dying. People in wheelchairs, and hooked up to respirators, came to the courthouse. The judge made them wait in the hallway outside the courtroom so that each individual couldn’t hear the testimony of anyone else, and so there would be no possibility of conspiracy and collusion. One of the patients was Antoinette Wiener who had too many afflictions to list on a single sheet of paper. Faulder calls Antoinette to the witness stand. Then, he looks right at DA Houston and says, “They call her Kitty.” Well, as I learned later, Kitty is also Houston’s pet name. DA Kitty says to Kitty on the witness stand, “I can’t find your recommendations for medical cannabis.” Cannabis Kitty says, “I can’t find them, either.” Ron Brown says to the DA, “She can’t find them.” Antoinette says, “I’ve looked all over my house.” Brown says, “She’s looked all over her house.” The DA says, “No further questions.” Brown says, “You may step down.”

All this time, my wife, Atsuko, is nursing our two-year old, Milo. Then she’s called to the witness stand because she was arrested with me, named as a co-conspirator and charged with cultivation, though she had nothing to do with the garden. She keep house. I keep yard. But PG&E was in her name. I took Milo in my arms when Atsuko was on the witness stand. The court wasn’t able to find a Japanese-speaking interpreter closer than San Jose. This interpreter had to come the night before she was scheduled to be in court. She was paid travel time and for her hotel room and meals and court time, too. Oddly enough, Atsuko only testified for five minutes. At the end of the hearing, Judge Brown says, “I see no evidence of any criminal activity. Go home.” The whole circus cost the prosecution, the state and taxpayers more money than the average person in Mendo makes in a whole year. In my view, the whole thing was a fishing operation on the part of the DA.

If we had lost the case, Atsuko would probably have been deported to Japan; she didn’t have American citizenship. If she was deported, I would have gone to Japan with her. All my patients would be without their medicine. Believe me, growers who give weed away for free are few and far-between in the marijuana business. In yet another hearing, which took place in San Francisco, I was charged with selling. I was trying to deliver a small bag of marijuana to Ralph Harvey Bay, an angry, one-eyed, epileptic Muslim. Cops arrested me on Christmas Eve. In court, the DA says that I had been charged with cultivation all over the state and had never slowed down. Randall Martin, the public defender assigned to my case, says to the judge, “The fact that my client has had every single case against him dismissed is overwhelming evidence of his abiding by the rules.” Judge says, “Case dismissed.” Later I asked Faulder, “Why do they keep coming after me?” He said, “They don’t like being soundly beaten in court.”

SILK ROAD COOKING WORKSHOPS

Traveling the Silk Road

The Silk Road was the great spice route of the ancient world stretching from the deserts and plateaus of Western China and Tibet to the busy ports of Turkey, Greece and Venice, Italy. In three workshops we will explore the interplay of the wonderful spices and cuisines of different regions. The date of the classes and the foods we will explore are

March 3: The foods of the Eastern Mediterranean — Greece, Turkey, Persia, Northern Syria

April 7: India, Nepal and Afghanistan

May. 5: Burma, Tibet and Western China

In each class we will prepare 8-10 dishes (appetizers, soup, main dishes, bread and desert — those who have taken these classes know that it can be done in an afternoon). The workshops are limited to 20 cooks and each cook can invite a guest to share in the prepared meal at the end of the day. The cost for each workshop is $60. The workshops will take place at the Caspar Community Center and go from 1:30 until we finish clean up around 7:30. More details will be provided when you register. The purpose of these workshops are threefold: to learn about the culture of different regions thru their food; to create community by the fun of cooking together in a group; and then extend community by sharing food together with friends and family.

You can register for the workshops by contacting Marty Johnson at either harvestinthejar@mcn.org or 707-964-6164.

FIVE MILLION TO DO WHAT?

Board of Supervisors Meeting Tuesday, February 26, 2019. Agenda Item 5b:

“Discussion and Possible Action Including Approval for the Health and Human Services Agency, Acting as the Administrative Entity on Behalf of the Mendocino County Homeless Services Continuum of Care, to Accept Homeless Emergency Aid Program Funds in the Amount of $4,921.967.86 with the Business Consumer, and Housing Agency Effective Upon Date Agreement Becomes Fully Executed through October 31, 2021; and Authorization for the Health and Human Services Agency Director or Designee to Sign Any Renewals or Amendments that Do Not Increase the Maximum Amount. (Sponsor: Health and Human Services Agency)”

ms NOTES: About $3 mil of this $5 mil grant is going for one line item in the attached boilerplate labeled “Capital Improvements: City of Fort Bragg.” Another $1 mil is going to “Capital Improvements, County of Mendocino.” And about $620k goes to “Capital Improvements: City of Ukiah.” And about $260k, is allocated for “Homeless Youth Set-Aside.” The rest of the attached 17-page “revenue agreement” is page after page of meaningless boilerplate which provides no other information about what all these millions will be spent on, who actually gets it or what the “improvements” are, who’s accountable that the “improvements” are made, etc. This kind of meaningless gibberish on the Board’s agenda without even a minimal description of what it’s for is typical of what passes for “transparency” in Mendocino County.

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ALSO on the Tuesday agenda is a review of the Supervisors seven (7) ad hoc committees, one of which is: “11/13/18: Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee to work with staff and Continuum of Care to review Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) funding request. Gjerde/McCowen (Active)”

“Active”? Not active enough that anyone can tell.

The other “active” ad hoc committees that you probably have never heard of but are nonetheless “active,” are: the PEG ad hoc (“Public, Education and Governmental Access Television fees and services”), “Vichy Springs Litigation,” “second access roads,” “cannabis cultivation,” “cannabis economic development,” and “fire and emergency services sustainability.”

https://www.theava.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Ad-Hoc-Committee-Index-02-05-19-1.pdf

FURTHER ON in a file called “directives” (ha ha) there’s a reference to a “Housing Ad Hoc” consisting of “Carmel/Steve” (CEO Carmel Angelo and Deputy CEO Steve Dunicliff) which is “ongoing.” This one’s been “ongoing” for about a year now with nothing to show for it. There are a bunch of other staff ad-hoc committees, which seems utterly silly because two staffers casually sitting down to jabber pointlessly about something would only be called an “ad hoc committee” in Mendocino County.

FOR EXAMPLE:

Planning and Building is “working on” (i.e., turned over to a consultant) the drafting of ordinance for revising the coastal zone pot cultivation allowance.

County Counsel and Planning and Building are “Awaiting liability release language from County Counsel” regarding standardized, pre-approved accessory dwelling unit specifications that the Board trumpeted as a wonderful accomplishment a few months ago.

“Tammy providing language” is the update on “a rewards program to recognize high achieving employees.”

“Steve to follow up with Howard to confirm” an on-line road conditions “presence.”

There’s an ad-hoc on rescheduling retirement contribution calculations.

And one on inspections of street improvements for “Phase 2 of Vichy Springs Community Homes.”

None of them have expected completion dates, when they meet or met, what they discussed, etc.

Here’s a good one: “General Consensus Of The Board that staff shall continue outreach to the City Councils to endorse the strategic action in Dr. Marbut’s report, particularly prioritizing the needs throughout the County; providing meals prior to 9am and after 5pm to avoid taking homeless away from programs that are helping; limiting it for three days; and for staff to provide a written report every two months; and an in-depth presentation to the Board of Supervisors every six months.” (We have not seen any of these reports.) Status: “Partially complete.” That’s it for status: “Partially complete.”

NOTE how concerned they seem to be about not disturbing the precise timing of the homeless funding units and their participation in programs that the County is reimbursed for — while at the same time pretending that they are doing some meaningless activity related to the Marbut report called “continue outreach” to city councils so that the city councils (not the County) “prioritize the needs.”

THERE’S A BUNCH MORE, check for yourself, not that anyone seems to care beyond listing them and pretending things are happening.

https://www.theava.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Directives.pdf

INTERESTINGLY there’s no mention, ad hoc or otherwise, about the consolidation of the County’s five dispatch services which was initiated last year — the only useful topic which could save the County and the cities a lot of time and money.

UKIAH GETS $5.1 MILLION FOR SENIOR HOUSING PROJECT

A planned housing project that will provide “affordable apartments” for seniors.

ukiahdailyjournal.com/2019/02/21/ukiah-gets-5-1-million-for-senior-housing-project/

ROUNDING UP RICARDO

On 02-19-2019 Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies were contacted by California State Parole out of Santa Rosa. The Deputies were advised that a parolee at large was possibly at a residence located in the 22000 block of East Side Road in Willits. The Parole Officer asked that the Deputies check the residence for Ricardo Nelson Hoaglin Jr. 45, of Willits, and if he was located to arrest him on a Felony Parole Hold which was issued on 11-07-2018.

Deputies responded to the location and contacted Hoaglin at the residence. He was placed under arrest without incident. Hoaglin was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held without bail.

PLANNING CANCELED

The March 7, 2019 Planning Commission cancellation notice has been posted on the department website at:mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/meeting-agendas/planning-commission

CATCH OF THE DAY, February 22, 2019

PEGGY AULLMAN, Ukiah. Failure to appear, competency status.

GARY BURTON, Laytonville. Protective order violation, probation revocation.

TABATHA BUSCH, Ukiah. DUI.

MICHAEL GRUNWALD, Cave Junction, Oregon/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JEFFREY GUNNING, Point Arena. DUI.

JENNA HATCHER, Redwood Valley. Controlled substance.

JACK HAYWARD, Boonville. Domestic battery, failure to appear, probation revocation.

TROY IVEY II, Ukiah. Pot for sale, probation revocation.

SHELDON LUND, Willits. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JESUS MACIAS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JUVENTINO MACIEL-VILLACANA, Ukiah. DUI, pot for sale, pot cultivation-processing.

JACOB MCKEY, Willits. DUI.

DEVIN SMITH, Upper Lake/Ukiah. Protective order violation.

MICHAEL TINAJERO, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

by James Kunstler

The #Resistance has been losing bigly in recent days as each new “bombshell” it manufactures turns out only to reveal its modus operandi, which is that the end justifies the means — the end being to evict the wicked Mr. Trump from office and the means being dishonesty and bad faith in its use of the government’s prosecutorial machinery.

The New York Times has a Friday op-ed, The Mueller Report Is Coming. Here’s What to Expect, declaring, “A concise report will probably act as a ‘road map’ to investigation for the Democratic House — and to further criminal investigation by other prosecutors.”

Translation: prepare to be disappointed by Mr. Mueller’s report and microwave a giant tub of popcorn for an extravaganza of sequels and re-boots. Beware of what you wish for. If the baton is passed to House committee chairs Jerrold Nadler, Maxine Waters, and Elijah Cummings, then in Act Two of the show, the country will be treated to something like the Spanish Inquisition as performed by Moe, Larry, and Curly.

Meanwhile, their antics may be eclipsed by the now inevitable inquiry around the misdeeds carried out by public officials in Act I of the show: the Russia Collusion Ruse. Based just on the current Andy McCabe book tour, there will be an awful lot to get to, and it is liable to be far more compelling than the nonsense conjured up by the Three Stooges. Mr. McCabe, in his quest to hand off the hot potato of culpability to his former colleagues, and to sell enough books to pay his lawyers’ retainers, has neatly laid out the case for his orchestrating a coup d’etat within the FBI.

It’s an ugly story, and it’s all out there now, like so much spaghetti hurled against the wall, and it won’t be ignored. There are many other spaghetti wads already plastered on that wall ranging from Hillary Clinton’s Fusion GPS hijinks, to Loretta Lynch’s written assurances to the Clinton campaign that the email server matter would be dropped, to the rather complete failure of the FISA process, and much much more that needs to be ventilated in a court of law.

I suspect that Barack Obama and his White House confidents will enter the picture, too, sooner or later, and to the great dismay of his partisans who do not want to see his legacy tarnished. Whatever your view of all these dark events, it would be pretty awful for the country to have to see him in a witness chair, but it may be unavoidable. Ditto Hillary, who is liable to go all Captain Queeg-y when she finally has to answer for her campaign’s turpitudes.

Most of this cast of characters has seemingly gone-to-ground in recent months, laying low, staying out of the news, probably spending much of their time conferring with their attorneys — Brennan, Clapper, Comey, et al, all keeping their traps shut in recent days as Andy McCabe takes his hangdog road-show around the Cable Networks and the NPR fluff chamber, spelling out the “stress” that prompted the FBI’s desperate attempt to cover its ass following the unbelievable 2016 election results.

I don’t pretend to know what the new Attorney General William Barr might do. He must realize that if he lets all this slide, the institutional damage will be permanent and severe. He is reputed to be a good friend of Special Prosecutor Mueller. Mr. Mueller’s reputation as the straightest of straight arrows seems at odds with the actual exercise of his office: generating rinky-dink “process” crimes against bit-players in the story, often via malicious prosecutorial tactics. The likely truth is that he was brought into the scene to protect the very characters who misused the terrible powers of the FBI and the Department of Justice. His investigation has been hermetically sealed against leakage. For all I or anyone else knows, he has spent some time preparing a case against the very officers who cooked up the Russia story in the first place. Perhaps not a high-percentage bet, but there it is for consideration.

It’s going to be an interesting month. Have you forgotten that General Michael Flynn will be returning to Judge Emmet Sullivan’s courtroom after three months in the doghouse that the judge sent him to for the purpose of reconsidering his guilty plea? Perhaps Gen. Flynn rediscovered that he has a spine this winter and will venture into a trial of the Mickey Mouse charge against him: that, as incoming National Security Advisor to the President, he had preliminary discussions with the Russian ambassador — in all other transitions-of-power, a completely normal procedure — and supposedly lied about it to the FBI. To the very people orchestrating a coup against his boss, the chief executive.

(Support Kunstler’s writing by visiting his Patreon Page.)

SQUIRRELS, LATE 1800s

Overland Monthly Magazine published many articles in the late 1890s about travelling, camping, and outdoor adventuring in Mendocino County.

Author Charles Greene wrote about the splendors of travelling beyond the main stage lines to gain freedom by experiencing the charm of Mendocino County's natural beauty.

Take a trip back in time and read "Where the Gray Squirrel Hides: The Less Known Resorts of Northern Mendocino."

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/ahj1472.2-30.175/67:21…

POINT ARENA City Council Meeting, February 26, 2019

https://mailchi.mp/85c6534035fd/city-council-meeting-february-26-2019?e=d0e3cdc057

VERMICULTURE WORKSHOP

Noyo Food Forest and School of Adaptive Agriculture are presenting a Vermiculture Workshop on Saturday, March 9th, 1-3pm This workshop is a thorough introduction to vermiculture - worm composting! We will cover worm life cycles, various styles of bins, bedding, food, moisture, and more. Learn about different systems that work for the backyard gardener as well as small-scale farmers, and everyone in between! Instructor: Keith Michalak Kieth co-managed Buttercup Compost Lab at the School of Adaptive Agriculture where he experiments with diverse strategies for composting. Keith has worked on many different farms around the world, and will share his many years of composting experience with you! Where: The Learning Garden at Noyo Food Forest, 300-A Dana Street, Fort Bragg Cost: Free to attend, donations welcome and appreciated! RSVP Required: Please email Sara@NoyoFoodForest.org or call 707-357-7680

NoyoFoodForest.org

School-of-Adaptive-Agriculture.org

learning garden, learninggarden707@gmail.com

BROADBAND!

Broadband on BOS agenda next Tuesday, 2/26

EDFC to present County Digital Infrastructure Plan for adoption to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, February 26th

The Economic Development and Financing Corporation (EDFC) will present the “Mendocino County Digital Infrastructure Strategic Plan” for adoption to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, February 26th and is scheduled as item 5d. EDFC took on the role of coordinating broadband for Mendocino County in late July of 2018. The first activity on their list was to create a digital infrastructure plan to support the development of digital access throughout the county.

It has long been established that high speed internet and digital infrastructure are critical for many aspects of community development including economic development, public safety, education, and healthcare. Unfortunately, the corporate structure that dominates broadband has not been able to meet the needs of Mendocino County.

The Broadband Alliance, a grass roots community group formed nearly 10 years ago, has been working diligently to promote the expansion of broadband and adoption programs and to support legislation that will improve the opportunities for rural broadband deployment. The county stepped up to the plate in 2015, when it joined the North Bay North Coast Broadband Consortium (NBNCBC), taking a regional approach to the problem. The county received a grant through the NBNCBC from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to support a county broadband coordinator.

“Rural counties across California and the US don’t provide the net profit that major corporations look for in deploying infrastructure and service. Because of that, it’s critical that government and non-profits collaborate to find the connections and solutions that will bring high speed internet to our under and un-served areas. Already, providers like Further Reach and SeaKay Wireless have connected over 2,000 households,” says Diann Simmons, EDFC’s Broadband Coordinator.

“This is a really complicated area to work in. I have been involved with both the Broadband Alliance and the EDFC Board for several years, and if it was easy, private sector would have done it already. To be successful in getting high speed internet access to the remote and rural areas of this county we are going to have to work together in public-private partnerships, with careful planning”, commented John Goldsmith, a local business owner.

The digital infrastructure plan provides a guide for how Mendocino County can use public, private, and non-profit partnerships to deploy broadband in more areas of the county. It looks at using both long-term projects to deploy fiber-optic cable networks and immediate solutions through wireless systems. “You can’t really do anything without having a plan. If we are going to move the needle, we will need grant funds, and without a plan, you don’t get grant funds,” concluded John Goldsmith.

(Meeting will be live-streamed and you can watch at: mendocinocounty.org/government/board-of-supervisors/agendas-and-minutes/bos-live-video)

Kathy Wylie, M.S. Ed., gglgrl@gmail.com

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Public Outreach Meeting: Friday, March 1st, 10:00 am

From: Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County

https://mailchi.mp/191393763443/public-outreach-meeting-friday-march-1st-1000-am?e=9909de0778

BAMC Draft Agenda - Outreach Meeting 3/1/19

1. Call to Order
2. Introductions
3. Additions to the agenda
4. Words from the Chair
5. Alliance Overview
6. EDFC and Mendocino County Digital Infrastructure Plan Update
7. Community Partner Reports
8. Mendocino County Office of Education
9. Office of Emergency Services
10. Updates from Elected Representatives
11. Congressman Huffman's office - Sheba Brown - FCC updates
12. State Senator & Assemblymember representatives
13. Broadband providers
14. NBNCBC updates
15. Update from Sonoma County- Mike Nicholls & Calvin Sandeen
16. Report from Jim Gagnon - USDA Reconnect application

AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME…

'Hundreds of thousands of pounds of healthy meat': California mulls bill to legalize eating roadkill

s.sfgate.com/outdoors/article/roadkill-eating-illegal-carcass-california-code-13634674.php

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I can’t agree that a de-facto coup is on balance beneficial. If you want to live in a rules-based system, in part based on precedence, and especially one that respects election results, what you do now has repercussions down the line.

The way they got rid of the Kennedy Bros was at least decisive. Boom, boom, gone. The way they subsequently painted things – deranged losers with guns – at least showed some regard for appearances and gave Mr and Mrs Middle America some comfort that the rule of law prevails. It wasn’t the Deep State, no, it wasn’t. You know, it was those hippy, radical, commies that were always squawking about conspiracies and so good, God-fearing Americans could ignore them. I mean, didn’t the Warren Commission settle matters? Didn’t they have trials for Jack Ruby and Sirhan Sirhan?

In the case of Trump there’s been no rifle shot to re-set the clock. If there had been, at least Pence would be in the Oval Office, a card carrying member of the Establishment, someone who believes fervently in what Pelosi and Schumer and Schiff and Warner believe. And maybe things could move forward.

As it is the proceedings to get rid of Trump look and smell entirely discreditable, a shambles, a nonsensical charge of collusion driving the coup attempt, having no benefit of logic or weight of evidence behind it. Much more than those gunshots of long-ago, what this tells everyone is that election results need not be definitive, that you could concoct whatever story you wanted to upend the winner, that the courts are malleable, that law enforcement is a joke, that institutions of state are the ultimate deciders of elections.

Of course, if they manage to unseat Trump, what it says to people down the road is that his successors can also be unseated by dishonest and corrupt means. What the Democrats and Never Trump Republicans apparently forgot is that presidential elections happen every four years, congressional elections every two years and if you want to win those elections put forward credible candidates.

Trump may have stunk as a candidate, but to a lot of people Hillary stunk worse, and if you’re being fair, you have to grant that they had a point and that the winner in 2016 maybe was the one that smelled least worst.

DEFUNDING PUBLIC ED

Editor,

The debate about honors classes in public schools raises important issues, but it is only a symptom of the presence of the elephant in the room. The American community has decided not to pay for public education.

This means that the only way to have a reasonable class size with a reasonably paid teacher is to fund the school privately, and then education becomes a privilege of the rich.

People who don’t have access to adequately funded schools understandably resent those who do and eventually come to resent education itself, and to even resent knowledge.

These sentiments make them susceptible to invented characterizations of their circumstances, and they will enthusiastically support ignorant demagogues who tell them comforting lies.

We are currently experiencing the beginnings of this phenomenon in the reign of the Great Pretender. Freedom, as they say, isn’t free. Let’s put off buying that new car for a year or so and support our society.

Stephen Hawkes

Healdsburg

BILLIONAIRE PHILANTHROPISTS Bill and Melinda Gates, appearing recently on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, said a number of things that made Colbert’s liberal audience squeal with delight. Then, after those platitudes were exhausted and the TV audience had slipped into a warm coma of semi-consciousness, the Gateses let show their true colors and uttered a good old-fashioned Trumpism.

counterpunch.org/2019/02/21/the-bill-and-melinda-gates-fair-taxation-scaremongering-tour/

MEMO OF THE AIR: tonight, live but not from Fort Bragg for 2nd week in a row on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg, and 105.1fm KMEC-LP Ukiah. Also there and anywhere else via http://knyo.org and click on Listen.

You can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's show, and shows before that.

Friday, 9pm to 5am, I'm reading Memo of the Air by live remote from Juanita's apartment, not from the back room of the KNYO performance space at 325 N. Franklin, next door to the Tip Top bar, so alter your plans to instead show-and-tell there next week, Friday March 1, when I'll really be there for you. Honestly, darlin', Daddy's so sorry he missed your recital. Here, I brought you something from Florida. It's a cocaine spoon, isn't that pretty?

Deadline to get your writing on the air tonight is around 7pm. If you're still working on it after that, just email it whenever you're done and I'll read it on the show next time. Or save it yourself for next time and come in and read it in person, see above.

By Saturday night, tonight's MOTA will also be there, and right on top, too. And then of course there's the whole rest of the world underneath that; all sorts of educational material for the growing brain.

Here are a few items to occupy your fingers with while you wait:

A clipfest of wonderful Sesame Street songs.

"Happy Furry Monsters" and other Sesame Street parody mashup songs

The latest treat from Randy Rainbow. "Too bad Mike Pence isn't here. He /loves/ Madonna."

Randy Rainbow calls out Trump in 80s parody "Border Lies"

A photorealistic monster generator. Breed your own, or just view a vast gallery of millions of monsters other people have bred.

https://ganbreeder.app/

And here's how we get paper cups. Supbf-supbf-supbf-supbf-supbf-supbf-supbf. For synesthesics: every cup for the rest of your life can be this sound.

How Paper Cups Are Made

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org,https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com